Gooooood afternoon, Bitchery! I am having a stunningly busy week, which I kind of hate but also appreciate the distraction. However, I’m worried I’ve forgotten to put something on my calendar. Do you know that feeling?
Anyway, it’s the last Wednesday in August, which is wild. I feel like I say that every time we reach the end of another month.
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If you haven’t treated yourself to this profile of Vivian Stephens in Texas Monthly, I highly encourage you to do so.
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I’m getting a kick out of these bot generated erotic romance covers:
The part where he gives her a "Las Vegas Tornado" is the filthiest thing I've ever read in my life. #vintageromance pic.twitter.com/BXjpa6jUDR
— erotica ebooks (@erotica_ebooks) August 25, 2020
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Author Kharma Kelley took the time to compile examples of anti-Blackness and White supremacy in romance. The PDF is worth a read.
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Enjoy this wild ride of a 9-year old running an “organized crime ring” on Neopets:
every few years i email neopets support asking if they can help me log into my childhood account and (unsurprisingly, tiny team, millions of old accounts) i've never heard back
— everest (@everestpipkin) August 23, 2020
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Add this to the collection of “the internet is a weird and wonderful place”:
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Don’t forget to share what super cool things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
That Neopets thread was a wild ride from start to finish. I knew some baby hackers back in my day. Would be honored to meet this 9 year old legend.
In light of the recent post about hobbies during quarantine and how many Bitches are cross-stitching, I thought this “melted-pizza cross-stitch” was mind-bogglingly good:
https://digg.com/video/these-realistic-embroidered-food-designs-are-making-us-hungry
Glad to see the Vivian Stephens profile posted here – it’s really good and I had no idea of the role she played
Is shameless self promotion allowed? If so, here’s the link to the RT swag I mentioned in the Quarantimes thread. Those book cover notebooks…
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Avon-75th-RT-Con-promo-Mallery-Autograph-Flame-Flower-Kinsale-Devereaux-Jackson/193636029130?hash=item2d159b52ca:g:2iIAAOSwTDVfRIut
I believe this was the RT held at the Biltmore in Los Angeles. The fire alarm would go off every 15 minutes. And ebooks seemed to make their debut here to a somewhat hostile crowd. Cue 5 years later…that one had all the publishers giving digital download cards to attendees.
This is also the RT where I first learned of SBTB and met Sarah =)
Sky above, that neopets thread.
And I didn’t know I needed an electronic toothbrush orchestra, but apparently I did.
Kharma Kelly’s compilation is amazing, and I hadn’t read this profile of Vivian Stephens.
Here’s an oldie that I still love:
If the link gets eaten, just ask youtube for “Quite Interesting, the sandbank”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYeHYg2n1zM
I saw that Neopets thread when it first came out, SO MANY MEMORIES! I think I was a little older than the writer when I first got hooked, but I did (or tried to do) so many things they did. Burner account to “trade” items to my main account for faerie quests, lying about my age to access the forum (supposed to be 13 years or older, but let’s face it, no one was), doing the zappy thing faithfully every day… so much nostalgia. I never did get a faerie paintbrush, though 🙁
The article about Vivan Stephens was extraordinary. Thank you so much for linking to it! It’s amazing to see how much has and has not changed in the past fifty years. I’m glad RWA will give her more recognition in their renovated writing contest.
All of those erotic bot titles should be Chuck Tingle books.
And of course, I missed the “i” in Ms. Stephens’ name. I’m sorry! Vivian Stephens, I apologize.
Here’s a link from Alexis Daria’s newsletter today (she was sent the article by Kate Clayborn). It explains the concepts of surge capacity and ambiguous grief, how they affect how we process these crappy times, and how we may cope better:
https://elemental.medium.com/your-surge-capacity-is-depleted-it-s-why-you-feel-awful-de285d542f4c
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